As he awaited trial on murder and attempted murder charges, Michael Dunn told his family it was "important" to him that they knew he was "not a monster," according to newly released jailhouse recordings.

Dunn shot nine bullets into a car full of teenagers in the parking lot of a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2012 after he said he felt threatened when he told them to turn their music down. He said he thought he saw one of the teens, Jordan Davis, point a gun at him before he opened fire.

Davis, 17, died of his injuries.

Dunn was convicted of three counts of attempted murder and one count of firing into an occupied car, but the jury deadlocked on a first degree murder charge.

When he was in jail awaiting trial, Dunn was recorded talking to his fiancee and son over the phone and told his son, "I'm not a monster -- that's important to me that you know that."

In the newly released recordings, Dunn told his son that he started shooting because he felt his life was in jeopardy, saying, "It was a me or him situation."